Mukaebi -- Welcoming Fire
by HybridC
Summary: When Ryo came back to the apartment. All lights were out. What was Kaori doing?


Title: Mukaebi -- Welcoming Fire  
Rate: G  
Author: HybridC  
  
*** Note from HybridC ***  
I want to dedicate this story to one of my favorite voice actor, Kaneto Shiozawa (real name: Toshikazu Shiozawa,) who sadly passed away at 10:54AM on May 10 this year in a hospital in Shinjuku, Tokyo due to a head concussion at age 46. He played many of my childhood heroes in animation and audio drama, D in Vampire Hunter D, Marou in Yoma, Goemon in Lupan III, Redbug in Fairy Project, etc. Thanks for everything, Mr. Shiozawa. Sorely I missed you and your voice.   
  
For these who does not know Japanese tradition called "Bon" (sometimes called "Obon", too) I am no expert, so I will just touch its key features for this fanfiction. "Bon/Obon" is an event to celebrate and remember dead ancestors. I have heard that it is originated from Buddhism. On August 13th, family lights the small fire called "mukaebi" in Japanese ("welcoming fire" in English translation) to guide dead ancestors' souls back to them from the spirit world. For next 3 days, invited dead ancestors have spent the time with their family, which treated them as if they were alive. On the last day (Aug 16th), again family lights the fire called "okuribi" ("farewell fire" in English) to send them back to the spirit world. So once in a year during the time of "Bon/Obon", the dead and living can reunite in this world.  
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That late afternoon, strangely the face of Ryo Saeba the Stud of Shinjuku was not seen in the downtown Tokyo. Instead of chasing young women every corner of streets, he was visiting an old friend.  
  
"I guess...I should go." Ryo smiled a little wryly to his silent friend, "ah I almost forgot..." From a plastic bag, he took a can of cold beer and waved it mischievously to his friend. Then, he opened it and carefully put it on the ground.   
  
"It's summer. We shouldn't forget this one. Well, enjoy it. I am gonna see ya around, Makimura." Ryo took another can from the same plastic bag, pulled its attached ring, and raised it a little above own eye level, and took a quick swig from it. The bitter cold beer felt good and quenched his thirst.  
  
There weren't any words from his old friend, but it was fine for Ryo. He finished his beer and placed the empty beer can beside his friend's, which was getting wet with collected moisture from the surrounding hot humid air. Then he waved to his friend and began to head back to his apartment he shared with his partner for last few years.   
  
As Ryo took each step to home, he noticed the small bright orange sun hovering close to the horizon between tall skyscraper. It was getting dark. In muggy evening breeze, here and there loud neon signs of various caterers of pleasure of nights began to decorate the dark blue sky of Shinjuku. They are like dangerous but spell-bounding lights calling helpless months to jump into its deadly flame.   
  
"Hey, Kaori? I am hungry? What's a dinner tonight?" As Ryo took off shoes and walked into the apartment, he called for Kaori, his partner as if he were a 6-years-old child, coming home and calling his mother for dinner.  
  
But, only gloomy room and silence welcomed him. Strangely all lights in the apartment were turned off. It wasn't like Kaori to neglect such thing. Standing in a dim room, Ryo looked around. Not detecting any immediate danger, slowly he took his right hand off from Python safely tucked under his linen jacket.   
  
As he carefully stepped into the dark living room, there he found his partner sitting quietly on floor. He couldn't see her face because she was facing toward the open balcony. His kneen eyes fell on her small unmoving back.   
  
"What's are you doing, Kaori? Ryo-chan is really hungry." Ryo took off his jacket and threw it on the couch nearby. Then, he sat down with his legs crossed next to Kaori on the floor and complained to strangely non-responding partner.  
  
About dozen or so lighted candles in different shapes and sizes were placed in front of Kaori. Ryo suspected that she got every candle in the house, but intentionally he didn't ask about it. The hot muggy summer wind from the opened verandah window made dozen tiny fires dance in the gloomy room before them.  
  
"Ryo..." Like a person been woken up from sleep suddenly, Kaori looked at Ryo blankly at first. After blinking few times, she finally noticed him sitting next to her, then smiled embarrassingly to him. Seeing the mixture of sadness and odd serenity in her smile, Ryo felt his chest tighten.   
  
What was she doing sitting alone in front of dozen lighted candles in dark.  
  
"What are you doing with candles? Did the power go out?" Ryo said to her nonchalantly.  
  
"Ah...no, nothing like that. These...well...today is August 13th..." Kaori tried to talk cheerfully to Ryo, but she was doing not so good job at the time.  
  
"Well, you have noticed or not, it is the time of year for Obon. For ordinary people... So, I thought I should light Mukaebi..." Not being able to finish own sentence well, Kaori looked downed, her eyes back to the candles on the floor. "I know...they aren't really formal...but they suits its purpose...I think" It was one of Japanese tradition to invite back the dead ancestors, leading their souls back to their decedents from the sprit world, which was carried by the smoke raising from "Mukaebi."  
  
"...for Makimura?" The face of one man came in Ryo's mind.   
  
The death was not a stranger for Ryo. Throughout his life, he had seen its many forms, but it didn't make any difference for him. From young age, he knew in his world that the death only meant simply the end of everything. If he and his comrades were lucky, they had the time to bury fallen friends in a simple hole in ground and spoke few words of payers, but survival was always their first priority, and there were the times when they must leave the body behind as it was.   
  
Some took the concept of afterlife and religon seriously and kept a rosary, a small cross, or some religious icon as if it would protect them against the death. The majority never asked or talked about what lies after death among themselves. So, the truth was left alone mysteriously.  
  
Perhaps they felt that asking a question which had no absolute answer was just waste of energy. As men in the group went down, some of men acted as if their deceased friend never existed in their life. It sounded cruel, but it was an alternative for them from going crazy over the inevitable shadow of death lurking in their life constantly.   
  
The dead couldn't help the living. There would be the time for tear later, but not when the enemy was after you. To survive, one should not feel any grief or doubt to lose any concentration. If he couldn't, he would be the next one to join the fallen friends.  
  
But, he was not in the jungle anymore, hunting and being hunted by the enemy. Those days were long gone.   
  
Now he was in distant and new territory, but the job was still the same, and the color of spilled blood didn't change. A ghost from the past never died, and the shadow of death continued to surround him like a neverending curse. But, he had something he never had during his days in jungles or in America.  
  
That something was sitting on the floor, starting at the candlelight carefully.   
  
"My brother, Mom, Dad... for all people I loved." The candlelight shined against Kaori's short hair and made it look like a living flame.  
  
Silence stretched in humid summer night.   
  
"Makimura is really lucky to have you. If I am gone, I don't think anyone will light the Mukaebi for me." Seeing the streetlights of Shinjuku in glittering night sky through the open balcony window, Ryo said wryly.  
  
From the same open window, being carried with muggy night breeze, faint commotion of restless urban city and persistent humming of cicada mingled together and filled the uncomfortable gap in the dark room.  
  
"Ryo...don't say anything like that." Kaori protested with whispering voice. She stared hard at the candles on the floor as if they would reveal her their unknown secret.  
  
Hearing serious tone and trembling in Kaori's voice, Ryo turned to her. The room's light source was just dozen or so candlelight in front of him, and the visibility wasn't good, but he saw unshed tear in her eyes.  
  
This made Ryo hesitated to say or do anything for a moment. He never admitted anyone in public, but from the beginning he knew very well his partner was a strong attractive woman, inside and outside both. He knew there was always other Kaori hidden inside of spitfire although his partner rarely showed this other one.   
  
Definitely, it was the face of other Kaori which he was seeing now.  
  
"Ha ha ha, Kaori! You know I am just kidding! Man, you are so serious tonight. Did you eat something bad? Anyway, you know and I know that I won't go away easily, leaving all untouched mokkori women. Besides, think about who's gonnah put up with an abusive woman like you? So don't sweat, OK." Putting his arm around Kaori's shoulder, Ryo pulled her toward him. Like a charm, the usual Ryo's sudden snide but cheerful remarks pulled Kaori from the edge of depressing blue mood she was getting into.   
  
Ryo prepared himself for a hammer attack or a quick punch to face, but there was nothing from Kaori.  
  
"...I hate you." Instead of pulling herself away from Ryo, she leaned into and putting her forehead below of Ryo's collarbones, hiding her face from him partially.  
  
Contrarily to her words, her body language was telling a different story.  
  
"You know... When I was lighting the candles, I began to remember all good time I had with my family when they were alive. Usually I don't think about them often. But, you know, as long as I have their memory, I think they are all alive in me. Maybe I don't see or talk to them, but I am not really alone as much as I believe that I am."   
  
Ryo coudn't say anything to Kaori. Putting both of his arm around her back which now seemed rather smaller than usual, holding her toward him as if he was afraid she was going to be fall apart.   
  
"Then...I think more...then I start to ask that what's about us..."  
  
"Us?"  
  
"Yeah...who is going to light the fire for us? If we are gone, are we going to be forgotten? If none remembered us...that's so sad..."  
  
To tell the truth he felt glad when his stubborn partner trusted him enough to show her inner feeling, but at the same time, knowing he was also a cause of her fear and pain, a guilty conscience tugged his heart.  
  
If her path didn't cross with his, she could live the ordinary life and never had to suffer like this, fearing for her life everyday.  
  
Ryo rested his cheek on Kaori's head. Holding unnaturally quiet partner, at the same time he felt her slow breathing against his chest. In, out, in, out, she was like a quivering small bird in his arms. He wanted to say that she didn't have to worry about such thing and to laugh at her words as a plain female foolishness, but he couldn't. He knew too much to lie to her.   
  
Nothing was forever.  
  
Not being able to say or do anything to ease Kaori's distress, Ryo couldn't help himself but feeling helpless.  
  
Kaori must felt Ryo's discomfort in painful silence, suddenly she looked up him. "I am sorry, Ryo... acting weird tonight... Just forget what I said." Ryo saw that she forced usual cheerful smile upon her face. He had to do something before she was going to hide behind the facade of a strong, capable, and independent woman.  
  
"I am not going to forget you."   
  
"What?" Questionably, Kaori stared at his face, faintly illuminated by the candlelight.   
  
"Whatever happen to us. I won't forget you. So stop fretting."   
  
There was a little pose before Kaori decided to speak to him again. "Thanks Ryo. It mean a lot for me... I won't forget you, too." Then, she smiled shyly.   
  
"Deal?" Ryo smirked back to her.  
  
"Deal." Kaori answered firmly. There was no sign of uncertainty in Kaori's voice.  
  
Their body touching in a rather intimate fashion for a quite length of time, and finally it caught on Kaori, who had regained a grip for her troubled mind. Ryo's keen eyes noticed that her cheeks turned into faint pink.  
  
"What's matter? Blushing like a red tomato."  
  
"Well, now I have lighted Mukaebi...maybe my brother might be back somewhere...watching us right now..."  
  
"Is that what you are thinking now?" Ryo seriously sighed; of course he was doing it deliberately. "Spirit or no spirit. I think we have to seal the deal, right?" Uncertainly his partner looked back him.   
  
"What...a?" There was no time for Kaori to finish her sentence.   
  
Still holding her tightly against his shoulder, Ryo quickly put his other hand on under Kaori's chin, raised her face toward him and stole a quick kiss from her, erasing any protest and making her forget the talk of invited dead brother's spirit at the same time .   
  
"Done!" Ryo grinned at Kaori who still was in a shock. It seemed like nothing could stop City Hunter from getting his way.  
  
Later that night, after putting out all candlelight and turned on the room lights, Kaori and Ryo found an empty can of beer, which was exactly the same bland Ryo left to his old friend earlier, innocently sitting on the table in the kitchen. Kaori insisted it was not hers, and Ryo knew it wasn't his either.  
  
Perhaps there was more than heaven and earth in this world.   
  
  
  
Welcoming Fire  
(By HybridC)  
  
  
I light this fire for you,  
To lead you back to me.  
  
You are so faraway always  
Not around me anymore  
So I thought...  
  
You won't walk on this path with me  
But your memory always touches my heart  
  
Being woven into the mystery of time and space,  
I wander this world, carrying you within myself  
  
To feel you again one more time,   
I light this fire for you.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
